"Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia Alonso Pérez de Guzmán y de Zúñiga-Sotomayor, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia, GE, KOGF (10 September 155026 July 1615), was a Spanish navy officer who was most noted for his role as commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armada. His father was Juan Carlos Pérez de Guzmán, died 1556. Juan Carlos died two years before his own father, Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 6th Duke of Medina Sidonia, thus he did not inherit the ducal title and died as the 9th Count of Niebla only. His paternal grandmother was Ana de Aragón y"
"his business affairs brought to light questionable associations with the Mafia as well as the secret P2, a bogus ""Masonic"" lodge that the Italian Parliament branded as a subversive organization. The 1974 failure of Sindona's Franklin National Bank and the subsequent collapse of his financial empire, into which he had channeled part of the Holy See's investments, entailed losses for the Vatican estimated by one source at 35 billion Italian lire (£20 million). In 1982, a political and financial scandal connected with the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano involved the head of IOR from 1971 to 1989, Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, who"
"first colonization attempt in Sicily failed and their leader, Pentathlos, was killed. They settled on the site of the village now known as Castello. The colony successfully fought the Etruscans for control of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Carthaginian forces succeeded in holding the site briefly during their struggles with Dionysios I, tyrant of Syracuse in 394, but once they were gone the ""polis"" entered a three-way alliance which included Dionysios' new colony at Tyndaris. Lipara prospered, but in 304 Agathokles took the town by treachery and is said to have lost all of his pillage from it in a storm at"
"for services rendered in the wars against Mark Antony, Augustus appointed Cleon the priest of the goddess Bellona in the temple-state of Comana and sovereign, therefore, of the surrounding country. Cleon added what he had been given by Augustus to what he had received from Mark Antony and styled himself a dynast. Under Augustus he also founded the city of Juliopolis out of the town of his birth, Gordiucome. Strabo mentions that Cleon was a priest of Jupiter Abrettenus, and ruler of Morene, a region of Mysia noticed by no other writer. Cleon's rule was unsuccessful and exceedingly brief; he"
"a monastery near Stenimachos. The reign of Dionysius was marked by the opposition to him by both of the other factions, including Symeon's. He was finally deposed at the end of 1471 after false accusations that he had converted to Islam and had been circumcised. Afterwards Symeon paid a further 2000 pieces of gold and allegedly promised to the Sultan to suppress designs for an anti-Ottoman revolt in Trebizond, and so he became Patriarch. Actually in May 1472 there was a failed attempt to capture the city led by Caterino Zeni and Alexios Komnenos (a nephew of David of Trebizond),"
"back the initiative to Himilco, who unsuccessfully besieged Syracuse after sacking Messina and defeating the Greek fleet at Catana, ensuring that western Sicily remain mostly free of the ravages of war. Segesta remained a dependent vassal of Carthage until the Punic Wars and was not touched by the wars between Carthage and Syracuse until 307 BC, when the city switched sides made common cause with Agathocles, tyrant of Syracuse, probably because of excessive Punic demands to meet their war expenses and the success of the Greeks in Africa and Sicily against Carthage. This backfired when Agathocles sacked the city after"
"a barbarian innovation at odds with Byzantine law and ecclesiastical canons. Angold notes, ""Its abolition by Michael Palaiologos was universally acclaimed."" In 1498, Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola, the leader of a reform movement in Florence who claimed apocalyptic prophetic visions, attempted to prove the divine sanction of his mission by undergoing a trial by fire. The first of its kind for over 400 years, the trial was a fiasco for Savonarola, since a sudden rain doused the flames, canceling the event, and was taken by onlookers as a sign from God against him. The Holy Inquisition arrested him shortly thereafter,"
"known as the ""First Sicilian War"". Carthage and Elymians joined hands in 510 BC to oppose the expedition of Prince Dorieus, who had lost the Spartan throne and was seeking to found a colony, showed up to colonize Eryx – after being expelled from Libya by Carthage in 511 BC. Dorieus was defeated and killed; the Greek survivors then founded Heraclea Minoa. Sicilian Greeks (probably the cities of Akragas, Gela and Selinus) fought an undated war of revenge against Carthage, which led to the destruction of Minoa and a treaty which brought economic benefits for the Greeks. An appeal for"
"the ships's armaments and men's weapons. At the turn of the 15th century, several factors came into play that had a major impact on the global wine market. The Venetian traders were losing their supply of sweet wine from the lands of Cyprus, Greece, Romania and Hungary to the emerging dominance of the Ottoman Empire. War with France had lost the English their access to the wines of Bordeaux. Seeing an opportunity to capitalize on this, the Spanish Duke of Medina Sidonia made several moves to put Sherry into the forefront of the world's wine market. In 1491, the export"
"Misenum, but the final straw was the betrayal of Sardinia to Octavian by Menas. Octavian was defeated in the naval battle of Messina (37 BC), so he now turned to his friends Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Titus Statilius Taurus, both very talented generals. In addition, the third triumvir, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, raised 14 legions in his African provinces to help defeat Pompey. Agrippa spent the winter training a navy on land and building a fleet near Lake Avernus. Agrippa fought Sextus at Mylae in August 36 BC, and again a month later, while Lepidus and Statilius Taurus invaded Sicily. In"
"First Servile War The First Servile War of 135–132 BC was an unsuccessful slave rebellion against the Roman Republic. The war was prompted by slave revolts in Enna on the island of Sicily. It was led by Eunus, a former slave claiming to be a prophet, and Cleon, a Cilician (from present-day Turkey) who became Eunus's military commander. After some minor battles won by the slaves, a larger Roman army arrived in Sicily and defeated the rebels. Following the final expulsion of the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War, there were great changes in land ownership in Sicily. Speculators from"
"Siege of Syracuse (397 BC) The Siege of Syracuse in 397 BC was the first of four unsuccessful sieges Carthaginian forces would undertake against Syracuse from 397 to 278 BC. In retaliation to the Siege of Motya by Dionysius of Syracuse, Himilco of the Magonid family of Carthage led a substantial force to Sicily. After retaking Motya and founding Lilybaeum, Himilco sacked Messana, then laid siege of Syracuse in the autumn of 397 BC after the Greek navy was crushed at Catana. The Carthaginians followed a strategy which the Athenians had used in 415 BC, and were successful in isolating"
"succeeded in doing failed, mainly due to a series of rebellions from the Israelites of Judah and the former kingdom of Ephraim, the Phoenicians of Caanan and the Arameans of the Levant. The Babylonian king crushed these rebellions, deposed Jehoiakim, the king of Judah and deported a sizeable part of the population to Babylonia. Cities like Tyre, Sidon and Damascus were also subjugated. The Arabs and other South Arabian peoples who dwelt in the deserts to the south of the borders of Mesopotamia were then also subjugated. In 567 BC he went to war with Pharaoh Amasis, and briefly invaded"
"Dionysius had a personal debt to consider. Dionysius chose not to provoke Agyris or Damon, ruler of Centuripae but made alliances with the Sicel cities of Agyrium, Centuripae, Herbita, Assorus (this city had stayed loyal to Syracuse after other Sicels had deserted to Himilco when Tauromenium was founded in 397 BC) and Herbessus. creating a buffer zone for Syracuse in central Sicily. Dionysius next besieged Tauromenium in the winter, but was forced lift the siege after his night assault failed. Dionysius next attacked Rehgion, but his attack failed, and he returned to Sicily after concluding a treaty with Rhegion to"
"provincials on Cicero's account he never paid his dues to Cicero. Hybrida then began to move on to the barbarian lands around Macedonia with the same intent to pillage as he had in Macedonia. It was during these incursions that Hybrida suffered two successive defeats: the first came at the hands of the Dardanians after he had encroached upon their land in Lower Moesia, and the second took place near the Greek polis of Histria in Upper Moesia. The ancient Roman historian Cassius Dio narrates the events thus: In both of these instances, a failed retreat by Hybrida and his"
"Astyochus Astyochus or Astyochos () was a Spartan navarch who served as commander of the collective Spartan naval forces along the coast of Asia Minor from 412–411 BC. He is regarded by many contemporaries and modern scholars as a key reason for Sparta's early failures in the Ionian War. His expeditions consisting of involvements in Lesbos, Chios, Erythrae and Clazomenae all proved unsuccessful. He also refused requests for help from Chios, causing the Spartan administration to become increasingly dissatisfied with his leadership. Thucydides portrays Astyochus as timid and inept, and also depicts him often in conflict with his peers in"
"inscriptions such as ""'sdn"" or ""b'b'l"", with Herakles and Dolphins being notable obverse and reverse designs. The ""Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World"" equates this site with modern Medina Sidonia-lying within the ancient Roman province of Turdetania some inland from the southern Spanish coast, this site lay upon a hill c. to the east of Gades (modern Cadiz), and to the west of the ""Besilus"" river. By the 3rd century BC the Romans had gained control over much of southern Spain; once coming under Roman hegemony this site was later referred to as Asido Caesarina. In 712 the"
"Demna of Georgia Demna (, a hypocorism for Demetrius, ) (born before 1155 - died c. 1178) was a Georgian royal prince and pretender to the throne proclaimed as king during the failed nobles’ revolt of 1177/8. He was the only son and heir of King David V, who had deposed his father, Demetrius I, in a palace coup in 1155. Shortly after David’s death (1155), Demetrius declared his younger son, George (the future King George III), heir apparent violating thus a principal law of succession and depriving Demna of his rights to the throne. The medieval Georgian and Armenian"
"the tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras, launched a joint expedition with the Persian satrap Artaphernes to conquer Naxos, in an attempt to bolster his position. The mission was a debacle, and sensing his imminent removal as tyrant, Aristagoras chose to incite the whole of Ionia into rebellion against the Persian king Darius the Great. In 498 BC, supported by troops from Athens and Eretria, the Ionians marched on, captured, and burnt Sardis. However, on their return journey to Ionia, they were followed by Persian troops, and decisively beaten at the Battle of Ephesus. This campaign was the only offensive action by"
"of Lydia, Artaphernes, proposing a joint attack on Naxos, to which Artaphernes assented. The expedition sailed in the spring of 499 BC but quickly descended into a debacle The force laid siege to the Naxians for four months, but eventually the Persians and Aristagoras both ran out of money. The force therefore sailed despondently back to the mainland. Aristagoras found himself in dire straits and fully expected to be stripped of his position by Artaphernes. In a desperate attempt to save himself, Aristagoras chose to incite his own subjects, the Milesians, to revolt against their Persian masters, thereby beginning the"
"died only one month after his appointment. In contemporary accounts, it was written that Cleon died because he ignored a taboo against eating pork in the temple precinct of Bellona. It is sometimes recorded that Cleon succeeded Lycomedes as ruler of Comana after the very brief reign of Medeius. Strabo suggests that Medeius and Cleon are different names for the same person, the former being the Greek name, the latter the native one. Cleon was in any case succeeded by Dyteutus. Cleon of Gordiucome Cleon of Gordiucome (), or Cleon the Mysian, was a 1st-century BC brigand-king in Asia Minor."
"Syracuse itself, but were eventually pushed back by a pestilence. A treaty in 392 BC allowed Syracuse to enlarge further its possessions, founding the cities of Adranon, Tyndarion and Tauromenos, and conquering Rhegion on the continent. In the Adriatic, to facilitate trade, Dionysius the Elder founded Ancona, Adria and Issa. Apart from his battle deeds, Dionysius was famous as a patron of art, and Plato himself visited Syracuse several times. His successor was Dionysius the Younger, who was however expelled by Dion in 356 BC. But the latter's despotic rule led in turn to his expulsion, and Dionysius reclaimed his"
"stopped the creation of the new Roman colony after the first veterans moved in. The new Carthage was built by his adopted-son Augustus and named ""Colonia Julia Carthago"". Colonia Junonia Colonia Junonia (sometimes ""Iunonia"") refers to an Ancient Roman colony established in 122 BC under the direction of Gaius Gracchus. It is significant as it was the first 'transmarine' Roman colony. The colony was located at the site of the destroyed city of Carthage, a reason for its widespread unpopularity with Romans. Those superstitious about the site spread reports of ill omens, including a claim that wolves had carried off"
"or Mandylion, later moved to Constantinople, is one of the first and long the most famous examples. This was later credited with the failure of the Persian siege of Edessa in 544. But the image is not mentioned in the account of Procopius, writing soon after the event, and first appears as the agent of the failure in the history of Evagrius Scholasticus of about 593. Specific icons, especially those of the Virgin Mary or Virgin and Child became credited with specialist functions, with their veneration aiding against disease or other misfortunes, and the military role of palladium was an"
"theatricals. In retaliation, the Pope excommunicated him in May 1497, and threatened to place Florence under an interdict. A trial by fire proposed by a rival Florentine preacher in April 1498 to test Savonarola's divine mandate turned into a fiasco, and popular opinion turned against him. Savonarola and two of his supporting friars were imprisoned. On 23 May 1498, Church and civil authorities condemned, hanged, and burned the three friars in the main square of Florence. Savonarola's devotees, the Piagnoni, kept his cause of republican freedom and religious reform alive well into the following century, although the Medici—restored to power"
"negotiations, which dragged for a year but ultimately faltered. Dionysius had consolidated his gains during the lull, and attacked Punic Sicily. He was decisively defeated in the battle of Cronium in 376 BC by Himilco, the son of Mago. Carthage did not follow up the victory but settled for an indemnity payment of 1000 talents and restoration of Carthaginian holdings in Sicily. Nothing is known of how or when Carthage subdued the African and Sardinian rebellion. Dionysius initiated hostilities again in 368 BC, and after initial successes besieged Lilybaeum, but the defeat of his fleet at Drepanum led to a"
"cavalry led to his unit being absolutely defeated and any plunder accrued during the attack was forfeited back to the natives. This lack of success, rather than the extortion of the provincials, drew the attention of the Senate who threatened to recall and prosecute Hybrida for his mismanagement of the province. In 60 BC, Hybrida was quietly replaced by Gaius Octavius as the Governor of Macedonia and in March of 59, during the consulship of Caesar and Marcus Culpurnius Bibulus, was prosecuted for the mishandling of the governorship by Caesar and Crassus. In the end, Hybrida was tried by Marcus"
"his superiors. Eunus was captured after Tauromenium while hiding in a pit, and was taken to the city of Morgantina, where he died of disease before he could be punished. The war lasted from 135 until 132 BC. It was the first of three large-scale slave revolts against the Roman Republic; the last and the most famous was led by Spartacus. First Servile War The First Servile War of 135–132 BC was an unsuccessful slave rebellion against the Roman Republic. The war was prompted by slave revolts in Enna on the island of Sicily. It was led by Eunus, a"
"of his duties after 8 months in command, and was succeeded by Mindarus, arriving from Sparta. Astyochus Astyochus or Astyochos () was a Spartan navarch who served as commander of the collective Spartan naval forces along the coast of Asia Minor from 412–411 BC. He is regarded by many contemporaries and modern scholars as a key reason for Sparta's early failures in the Ionian War. His expeditions consisting of involvements in Lesbos, Chios, Erythrae and Clazomenae all proved unsuccessful. He also refused requests for help from Chios, causing the Spartan administration to become increasingly dissatisfied with his leadership. Thucydides portrays"
"in 39 BC, Octavian and Antony sought an alliance with him, appointing him governor of Sicily, Sardinia, and the Peloponnese for five years (Treaty of Misenum). The alliance was short-lived, and Sextus cut the grain supply to Rome. Octavian tried to invade Sicily in 38 BC, but his ships were forced to go back because of bad weather. Agrippa cut through part of the Via Ercolana and dug a channel to connect Lake Lucrinus to the sea in order to change it into a harbor. Additionally, Agrippa dug a second, longer channel on the northern side of Lake Lucrinus to"
"traders in Syracuse, and Dionysius then besieged, captured and destroyed the Carthaginian city of Motya in Western Sicily while foiling the relief effort of Himilco through a brilliant stratagem. Himilco, who had been elected ""king"", responded decisively the following year, leading an expedition which not only reclaimed Motya, but also captured Messina. Finally, he laid siege to Syracuse itself after Mago, his kinsman, crushed the Greek fleet off Catana. The siege met with great success throughout 397 BC, but in 396 BC plague ravaged the Carthaginian forces, and they collapsed under Syracusan attack. Himilco paid an indemnity of 300 talents"
"the forts. Himilco chose not to set up base at Messina, but marched south, and founded a city in Tauromenion, which he populated with Sicels. The Sicels now deserted Dionysius, so two things was achieved with one stroke, Himilco managed to detached allies away from Dionysius and at the same time gaining allies to block any activity by the still hostile Greeks of Messina in his rear. The Carthaginians resumed marching south along the coast, with the fleet sailing alongside. However, a severe eruption of Mt. Etna made the path north of Naxos impassable, so Himilco marched to detour around"
"Via Hadriana The Via Hadriana was an ancient Roman road established by the emperor Hadrian, which stretched from Antinopolis on the River Nile to the Red Sea at Berenice Troglodytica (Berenike). Hadrian had founded Antinopolis in memory of his presumed lover, the youth Antinous, who had drowned in the Nile. The Via Hadriana was finished in 137 AD. Traces of the road line were noted by Couyat (1910) and Murray (1925) who recorded the sites of several small mansios in the southern part of the road. However, few were in the north and none at all were on the west-east"